The present invention relates to a technology for forming an image on a recording medium according to an electronic file sent via an electronic mail system.
Recently, facsimile communications via an IP (Internet Protocol) communication line have become common. One of such facsimile communications uses an electronic mail system. To be more specific, a sending terminal sends an electronic mail (hereinafter, referred to as E-mail) with an attachment file in TIFF (Tag Image File Format) or PDF (Portable Document Format) to a receiving terminal having a printing function. The receiving terminal receives the E-mail from the sending terminal via a mail server, and forms (i.e., prints) an image on a recording medium according to the attachment file of the E-mail. There have recently been digital multifunction peripherals having a scanner function, a printing function, a copying function, and the above described facsimile communication function (see, for example, Patent Publication No. 1).
In the facsimile communication using the E-mail system, it is necessary to send an inquiry command to the mail server about presence or absence of E-mail with an attachment file in the mail server. Convenience can be enhanced by increasing a frequency of sending the inquiry commands. However, if the frequency of sending the inquiry commands to the mail server and receiving response messages from the mail server increases, electric power consumption of the receiving terminal increases.
In order to reduce an increase of such electric power consumption, Patent Publication No. 1 discloses a digital multifunction peripheral having a standby mode and a power-saving mode. In the standby mode, all of the functions of the digital multifunction peripheral can be immediately started by an operation by a user. In the power-saving mode, several functions of an operation panel and the like are disabled or restricted. The digital multifunction peripheral is configured to send the inquiry command to the mail server (about the presence or absence of E-mail with an attachment file) during the power-saving mode, so as to reduce electric power consumption.    Patent Publication No. 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-262096.
However, in the conventional power-saving mode, only several functions of the operation panel and the like are disabled or restricted. Therefore, a sufficient power saving effect cannot be achieved.